The Five College Consortium

Hampshire’s founders were Amherst, Smith, and Mount Holyoke Colleges and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. They set out to create a lab of an undergraduate institution, experimenting with how a college could be a more effective intellectual and moral force in the world.

Part of the plan: share the resources of all five schools.

Enrolling at Hampshire College means you’ll find yourself a member of a vibrant community made up of all five. Students at each campus can cross register for classes, join clubs, try out for club sports and performing arts groups, borrow books, attend events, and dine at the other four schools.

One of the country’s most exciting and active educational collaborations

The power of five

During my time at Hampshire, I was able to take classes at all five colleges!

Mount Holyoke’s education advisor Sarah Frenette was very supportive and helped me find all the education classes I needed.

I also worked closely with UMass Education Professor Darrell Earnest who helped me pursue an independent study on morale and the moral work of teaching.

When Max Solomon Frye 20F transferred to Hampshire, he planned to study education to become a teacher and began by taking practical classes that would prepare him for licensure exams and classroom placement. “But I started questioning if classroom teaching was for me,” he says. “So, I designed a field of study focused on the cross-section of education, sociology, psychology, human development, and childhood studies.”

Frye’s interdisciplinary Division III culminated in a program aimed at teaching people how to work with kids in settings like summer camps and babysitting in homes, as well as in school. His model includes both “the practical skills of childcare as well as larger conceptual ideas that often aren’t covered in other programs, including needs-based conflict management and navigating social power dynamics between youth and adults.”

THE FIVE COLLEGE CONSORTIUM ENABLES OUR STUDENTS TO ENJOY:

> Expanded course options: more than 7,000 from which to choose taught by over 2,000 faculty members.

> One of the largest library collections in the country: 28 libraries with more than NINE MILLION books.

> More than 900 student organizations and activities and some 3,400 events each year open to all.

> A free bus system connects the FIVE COLLEGES and THREE towns, day and night.

> Recruiting by almost 500 companies.

> 30,000+ potential friends to make.

ACADEMIC collaborations

In addition to promoting each institution’s majors and programs, the Five College Consortium sponsors learning centers, shared programs, additional certifications, and accelerated master’s programs.

FIVE COLLEGE MAJORS

• Architectural Studies

• Astronomy

• Dance

• Film and Media Studies

CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS

Approved by a committee of Five College faculty, these certificates demonstrate extensive work in your field and are awarded with your bachelor’s degree.

• African Studies

• Asian/Pacific/American Studies

• Biomathematical Sciences

• Buddhist Studies

• Coastal and Marine Sciences

• Cognitive Neuroscience

• Culture, Health, and Science

• Ethnomusicology

• International Relations

• Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

• Logic

• Middle Eastern Studies

• Native American and Indigenous Studies

• Queer, Trans, and Sexuality Studies

• Reproductive Health Rights and Justice

• Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies

• Sustainability Studies

FIVECOLLEGES.EDU/ACADEMICS

FIVE COLLEGE CENTERS & INITIATIVES

Arabic Language Initiative

Center for Crossroads in the Study of the Americas

Center for East Asian Studies

Five College Center for the Study of World Languages

Five College Early Music Program

Five College Korean Language Program

Five College Statistics Program

Five College Women’s Studies Research Center

ACCELERATED MASTER’S PROGRAMS

Working with UMass Amherst, students may complete both the bachelor’s and master’s degree in the following areas:

• Mathematics

• Molecular and Cellular Biology

• Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

• Plant Biology

• Linguistics

• Economics

• Public Policy and Administration

• Sustainability Science

• Political Science

opportunities & resources

ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES

Students with disabilities may obtain accommodations and services when taking courses at any of the Five Colleges.

LGBTQ RESOURCES

A rich assortment of campus and community organizations and resources support LGBTQ students and advocate for the respect and safety of all members of their communities.

MEAL EXCHANGE

In support of Five College academic opportunities, a dining meal exchange is available for any student enrolled in a meal plan at one of the Five Colleges.

MULTICULTURAL RESOURCES

Organizations and resources support students of color through programs and workshops, fostering leadership skills, student affinity groups, student leadership opportunities, and more.

RELIGIOUS & SPIRTUAL LIFE

Respective programs seek to stimulate and nurture spiritual development, religious practice, tolerance, and social engagement consistent with the values of academic freedom, mutual respect, diversity, and interfaith dialogue.

CLUBS & ORGANIZATIONS

Most clubs, intramural sports, and extracurricular activities on each Five College campus are open to Five College students. The exception is varsity sports, which in most cases are not open to students from other campuses.

STUDENT EVENT FUNDING

The Student Coordinating Board, made up of student leaders from each campus, often has funds available to support events aimed at bringing together students from all five campuses.

As a Hampshire student, Sam took a few classes that involved in-depth discovery of the various Five College archives. In a course through Amherst College entitled Hybrid Forms, students explored the archives there to find inspiration for creating their own historical, hybrid works. Sam’s final project for that course took the form of a scrapbook based on his Hampshire experience and the desire to add his voice to the archives.

One of my favorite parts of the Five College Consortium is the rich history that is held here, and I hope that future Five College students continue to take advantage of — and add their own voices to — that history.

Around here, everybody takes the bus

OUR CAMPUSES, AREA DOWNTOWNS, AND SHOPPING CENTERS ARE ALL LINKED BY A FREE BUS SYSTEM

PIONEER VALLEY TRANSIT AUTHORITY

The Five College campuses are linked by a daily bus service during the academic year called the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA). Some routes include stops at local towns and shopping centers. The routes are free to anyone with an ID from a Five College campus during the academic year.

And it’s not just for getting to class; the last Hampshire drop-off is often well past midnight, allowing you to enjoy off-campus clubs, activities, performances, and more.

FIVECOLLEGES.EDU/BUS

MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE

Through the Mortimer Rare Book Collection at Smith College, which houses an archive of artist’s books, and close work with Professor Amanda Maciuba of Mount Holyoke College, I found the resources and inspiration for my Div 111 project—a multimedia thesis in the form of an artist’s book on the subject of contemporary conservative homeschooling.

cultural OFFERINGS

Distinguished guest artists, filmmakers, and scholars regularly visit the Five Colleges to lecture and meet with students, give performances, or read from their work. The music departments jointly hosts in alternative years an outstanding composer and musicologist-in-residence for a week. In alternate years, a Five College choral festival brings together all the choral groups for a roof-raising concert. A Five College opera is performed each third year. The theater departments hold open houses for all productions and sponsor a Five College Mulitcultural Theater program.

MUSEUMS10

A dynamic collection of ten museums that inspire, engage and enrich their communities through shared experiences of art, literature, history and the natural world is also affiliated with the Five College Consortium. Most are located on our campuses:

• Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College

• The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Hampshire College

Anna studied social and cultural anthropology, German language, and book arts. In addition to her studies at Hampshire, she took eight classes across the Five Colleges and borrowed dozens of books from the Consortium libraries. Her Div III combined interests in anthropology and the book arts culminating in a thesis on the connections between the trend of contemporary conservative homeschooling and a pioneer ethos

of whitewashed history idealized through 20th-century children’s literature such as The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Through a class at Mount Holyoke, she bound her Div III into an artist’s book, making handmade paper, printing the thesis onto the paper, adding poetry and illustrations, and binding the whole thing. Artist books at Smith College were invaluable to her study of the book as art.

• Hampshire College Art Gallery

• Mead Art Museum at Amherst College

• Mount Holyoke College Art Museum

• Smith College Museum of Art

• University Museum of Contemporary Art, UMass

• Yiddish Book Center, Hampshire College

Nearby are the Emily Dickinson Museum and Historic Deerfield.

only at hampshire

THE FARM CENTER

Students can harvest or consume our Community Supported Agriculture shares; tap and collect maple sap for syrup (say that five times fast); take care of pigs, cows, and sheep; or tend to more than 60,000 bees!

YURT RADIO

Ever wanted to be a radio DJ? Talk-show host? In the Yurt, anyone can have a show! What’s a yurt? Think “hobbit house” but rounder, cuter, and noticeably without ringwraiths.

TWO LIVING BUILDINGS

Both the R.W. Kern Center and the Hitchcock Center for the Environment took on the Living Building Challenge, a rigorous certification program for uber-sustainable construction projects. They are only two dozen of these buildings in the world! Both produce and consume all of their own energy and are research spots for students.

SOLAR FIELDS

With 19 acres of solar arrays, Hampshire produces over six million kWh of renewable energy to the grid each year, which allows the College to purchase wind and solar credits equal to 100% of the campus’s use.

THE CENTER FOR DESIGN

Welding, glass work, blacksmithing, plasma cutting, computer aided design (CAD), jewelry, 3D printing, and more — any student can learn these skills and more with a short safety training.

SPORTS FACILITIES

The Robert Crown Center is the hub of recreational athletics, home to our basketball court, swimming pool, rock wall, and bouldering cave, among other equipment. The Multisport Center houses weight and cardio equipment, as well as an indoor track and tennis/pickleball courts. Many fitness and martial arts courses — from yoga to Japansese Zen archery are offered each semester.